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Hedge
Hedge was a sapper and a Bridgeburner. He and Fiddler were notorious for their expertise with Moranth munitions, although Whiskeyjack thought they made terrible soldiers as they had forgotten any of the discipline instilled in basic training.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 13, US HC p.302 The pair often collaborated on schemes that were less than aboveboard.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 3, US SFBC p.99 He was described as having a weathered face the same colour as his scorched leather cap which he used to cover the wisps of hair on his nearly bald pate.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 3, UK MMPB p.121Memories of Ice, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.80 Antsy called him bow-legged.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 3, UK MMPB p.120 Hedge had a reputation for adopting strays and other 'needy creatures' and he could get quite stubborn about that tendency.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 4, UK MMPB p.155 Fiddler and Hedge were "as close as brothers. When together, they were mayhem. A conjoined mindset more dangerous than amusing most of the time. As legendary as the Bridgeburners themselves."The Bonehunters, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.98 Detoran appeared to have a crush on Hedge.Memories of Ice, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.406 It was not clear how willing a participant Hedge was in their relationship, as she was known to grab him by the throat and shake him until he ceased struggling. This did not stop the sapper from returning to her arms night after night.Memories of Ice, Chapter 21, UK MMPB p.905 Like many Malazan soldiers, his name was bestowed by the legendary Master Sergeant, Braven Tooth.House of Chains, Chapter 5, US SFBC p.252 In Gardens of the Moon Hedge was a sapper in the 9th Squad of the Bridgeburners.Gardens of the Moon, Dramatis Personae, UK MMPB p.xii He was one of the lucky few survivors of the collapse of the sapper tunnels at the Siege of Pale. About a week later, he and his squad mates were assigned a covert mission to Darujhistan.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 4, UK MMPB p.129 Having been dropped on the northern shore of Lake Azur by Black Moranth Quorl, Fiddler and Hedge took delivery of a consignment of Moranth munitions, delivered by Green Moranth, making them 'two happy sappers' according to Kalam.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 8, UK MMPB p.256 Before crossing the Lake via fishing boat also supplied by the Moranth, Whiskeyjack told them that he had changed the official plan as that would get them all killed. He divided the squad into two teams, one to be led by Kalam, the other one by the Sergeant himself. Hedge would be in Whiskeyjack's team. Kalam told Whiskeyjack that he was concerned for Fiddler, Hedge and Trotts, who had all shifted a lot of earth in the tunnels at Pale. Trotts was trying to get the boat into the water and getting no help from the others. Seeing this, Whiskeyjack told him to sit in the boat and ordered the others to push it into the water. He also said that it was the kind of thing he would expect from Fiddler and Hedge.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 8, UK MMPB p.258,264-266 Less than an hour after their midnight landing in Darujhistan, Hedge and Fiddler somehow acquired a waggon full of cobbles enabling them and the rest of the squad to pose as road maintenance workers and mine the intersections of the city's streets with munitions. At the proper time the munitions could be fired to bring down buildings and block intersections and sow chaos and confusion amongst the city's defenders.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 11, UK MMPB p.362Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 11, US HC p.258-260 During Lady Simtal's Gedderone Fête he posed as a hired guard along with the other Bridgeburners. The party was attacked by the Jaghut Tyrant Raest possessing the body of the mage Mammot. When Quick Ben's magic failed to eliminate the Tyrant, Hedge fired a munition from his arbalest, gravely wounding the creature.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 22, US MMPB p.615 He and Fiddler then raced away to set off their charges, but were stopped in their tracks by the appearance of the demon Lord of Galayn. The delay saved the city as it gave time for Kalam to stop the plan that would have unknowingly touched off the city's enormous gas reserves.Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 22, US HC p.459Gardens of the Moon, Chapter 23, US HC p.468 In Memories of Ice ] After Dujek Onearm's army went renegade, the decimated Bridgeburners were reorganised and Hedge was moved to Antsy's 7th Squad.Memories of Ice, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.82 Dujek allied the Malazans with their old enemies, Caladan Brood and Anomander Rake, against the Pannion Domin. Cadre mage Spindle led Hedge, Blend, Detoran, Picker, and Trotts into Brood's command tent to steal Fiddler and Hedge's old card table. Rigged to win card games using the Deck of Dragons, it had been lost as a spoil of war when the Bridgeburner camp in Mott Wood was overrun. Spindle and the squad soon put the table back into action to swindle their fellow soldiers. But the presence of a new and heretofore unknown Master of the Deck card caused the plan to backfire, lightening their own purses.Memories of Ice, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.139-143 The Bridgeburners were sent by Quorl to the Barghast Range to secure an alliance with Humbrall Taur and the White Face Barghast. Hedge was part of a detachment led by Antsy that was to meet and escort Quick Ben to the Barghast camp. While the bored soldiers waited, Hedge ridiculed Detoran who responded by beating him senseless.Memories of Ice, Chapter 11, US SFBC p.379-380 The Bridgeburners and the Barghast were the first of the allied forces to make contact with the enemy at the Siege of Capustan. Using munitions, Hedge and the Bridgeburners punched their way through 200 Betaklites and over a thousand Tenescowri at Capustan's North Gate.Memories of Ice, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.560-566 After the siege was lifted, the Bridgeburners traveled secretly to Coral to reconnoiter the next battlefield. By this time, Detoran and Hedge had patched up their differences.Memories of Ice, Chapter 21, UK MMPB p.905 During the Siege of Coral, Hedge and the other Bridgeburners were inserted into the city by quorl under the cover of darkness. Their mission was to attack the keep of the Pannion Seer while Dujek led the rest of the army into the city itself.Memories of Ice, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.877-878 Hedge and Spindle rigged one of the keep's towers with munitions to blow open an entrance for the Bridgeburner attack.Memories of Ice, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.883/886-887 Amidst the rubble of the breach, they were attacked by one of the Seer's undead K'Chain Che'Malle K'ell Hunters. The charging reptile was on Hedge in a moment, so he threw a Cusser straight down, killing both of them instantly and saving his comrades.Memories of Ice, Chapter 25, UK MMPB p.1081 Like the other Bridgeburners who perished, his body was placed in a sarcophagus within the throne room of Moon's Spawn after the battle by Anomander Rake. The failing Skykeep was then sent out over the Rust Ocean where it was presumed to have crashed into the sea. Quick Ben promised to tell Fiddler how Hedge died the next time he saw him.Memories of Ice, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.982/985-986 In House of Chains He later ascended, along with his fellow fallen Bridgeburners, due to the Master of the Deck's blessing and the song of Kimloc, a Tanno Spiritwalker.House of Chains, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.806 The ghosts of the Bridgeburners returned to Raraku on the eve of the confrontation between Adjunct Tavore Paran and Sha'ik Reborn. In the battle, Hedge saved Fiddler's life during an ambush by Corabb and his desert warriors. The sapper knocked his friend to the ground and lay on top of him just as a massive munitions detonation went off killing Lieutenant Ranal. Afterwards, Hedge departed with a laugh saying Fiddler would see him and all the other Bridgeburners again soon.House of Chains, Chapter 26, US SFBC p.839-841 In The Bonehunters As Fiddler lay bleeding out in the tunnels deep below Y'Ghatan he experienced a Carelbarra-induced vision of Hedge. Hedge admonished his old friend to get up and not die or else Hood would find him and he would never see the Bridgeburners again. He said "you got to take us with you, right to the end" and "you better get going, you're running out of time." Hedge would not elaborate.The Bonehunters, Chapter 7, US SFBC p.356-357 Soon after, Ganoes Paran, now Master of the Deck, travelled to the newly reborn sea of Raraku. On its shores he performed a ritual to summon all of the dead Bridgeburners by name. Among the ranks, Hedge bragged this was not the first time this group of dead Bridgeburners had walked among the living, noting that they had twisted the hair of Korbolo Dom and his Dogslayers at the Battle of Raraku. He also informed Paran that Fiddler had joined the Malaz 14th Army where, thanks to Hedge, he was still all right. Shank spoke directly to Paran, asking their former captain what he required. Paran requested that they help him find the Deragoth to destroy Dejim Nebrahl.The Bonehunters, Chapter 8, US SFBC p.396-397 Hedge spent some time wandering as a ghost and helped Ganoes Paran cross a bridge to the underworld with the Trygalle Trade Guild and free the Deragoth. In Reaper's Gale He was ultimately resurrected in the Refugium (due to the birth of an Azath House) where he met up with Quick Ben and help him defeat and drive off Menandore, Sheltatha Lore and Sukul Ankhadu. In Dust of Dreams Hedge rejoined the Malazan Army, but his relationship with Fiddler was awkward. As the Bonehunter army marched east, Hedge took in a company of Letherii recruits and christened them Bridgeburners. He also commissioned a Letherii alchemist, Bavedict, to create new munitions to replace the quickly dwindling Moranth munition supply of the army. Bavedict's secret concoctions (referred to as "kittens" to keep the hoard for his Bridgeburners) were markedly different from Moranth munitions in their functions, but no less deadly. During the battle with the Nah'ruk, Hedge's Bridgeburners reduced an entire phalanx of the enemy to a paste using a salvo of acid grenados. In The Crippled God Before the final battle to defend the Crippled God's body, Hedge disobeyed orders and led his Bridgeburners with all their supplies to join with Fiddler's company, where the two resolved their differences. Hedge's munitions and Bridgeburners proved as deadly as ever and were instrumental in winning the battle. He survived the battle and elected to stay behind rather that leave with the Guardians of the Gate, so that he could keep Fiddler company. Trivia *Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont had originally named Hedge 'Prairie Dog', but Erikson changed the name as it was causing problems with publishers. He said that Hedge moved well beyond the original derivation of hedge-hog. See his comments in a Tor Q&A session.Steven Erikson (2014) Ask Steven Erikson Your Crippled God Questions!, Tor Blogs, Macmillan, Accessed: 16-12-2014, Available: , see Steven Erikson's answer to question 50 *Some non-English versions of the Malazan books correctly translate Hedge's name using the hedgehog derivation (see the German use of "Igel"). Other languages translate the word to something closer to hedgerow (see the Dutch use of "Haag" and the Polish use of "Płot"). Quotes Notes and references de:Igel pl:Płot Category:Males Category:Bridgeburners Category:Malazans Category:Sappers Category:Humans Category:Soldiers